Wedbush Raises Benefitfocus (BNFT) Price Target to $57.00

Benefitfocus (NASDAQ:BNFT) had its target price lifted by Wedbush from $44.00 to $57.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BNFT. ValuEngine upgraded Benefitfocus from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 6th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Benefitfocus in a research report on Monday, August 20th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. BidaskClub upgraded Benefitfocus from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 23rd. Raymond James upped their price target on Benefitfocus from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Benefitfocus to $48.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, November 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Benefitfocus currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $42.36.

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Shares of BNFT opened at $51.88 on Tuesday. Benefitfocus has a twelve month low of $21.75 and a twelve month high of $52.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -65.67 and a beta of 1.28.

Benefitfocus (NASDAQ:BNFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 1st. The software maker reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $61.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Benefitfocus will post -1.15 EPS for the current year.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BNFT. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Benefitfocus in the third quarter worth approximately $185,000. Ibex Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Benefitfocus in the third quarter worth approximately $206,000. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of Benefitfocus in the third quarter worth approximately $210,000. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY increased its position in shares of Benefitfocus by 59.4% in the second quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 6,581 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Benefitfocus by 84.9% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,861 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.71% of the company’s stock.

Benefitfocus Company Profile

Benefitfocus, Inc provides cloud-based benefits management platform for consumers, employers, insurance carriers, and brokers in the United States. It operates through Employer and Carrier segments. The company's products for insurance carriers include Marketplaces, which are online shopping environments; eEnrollment that provides online enrollment for benefits; eBilling, an electronic invoice presentment and payment solution; eExchange, a solution for communication; eSales for carriers and brokers to organize and manage accounts, track leads, generate quotes, and create proposals for products; and Core & Advanced Analytics, a data analytics solution.